Thursday, 20 March 2014

Hello all,
Alluring and sensual - deadly and depraved. Slaanesh's most numerous daemons, the Daemonettes, have always been a favourite of mine, ever since I read about them in Slaves to Darkness so 25 years ago.
According to their fluff they are alluring, nay sexy, enough to make men (and women, Slaanesh favours no sex) stop in their tracks and smile in pleasure as the demon decapitate them with their crab claws. So while they should perhaps look something like this:

Games Workshop choose something a bit more safe for work. The first daemonettes were these beauties:

They were designed by Jes Goodwin and Michael Perry (always wondered who did what) back in 1988 and realeased in 1989. They are variables on the same couple of bodies, with individual faces that range from the entirely alien to almost attractive female visages.

I must say I like them, and have enjoyed collecting and painting each one (they can be seen here), even though I would have liked for them to be a bit more 'alluring' and a bit less 'scary' :-).

One of the things that makes the old adverts fun is the names they gave each miniature - in the case of the daemonettes these were the following, colourful names: Lewdfang, Sinwhip, Lipspittle, Lewdbeast, Lustspite, Limbsuck, Fiendthrob, Warptongue, Suckflesh, Gristlewhip, Fleshthrob, Heartvex.

Apart from these twelve daemonettes there was a thirteenth released. She is, surprisingly, neither more rare nor more expensive on ebay these days, but for some reason she was not on the advert and hence has received no suitable name and is called merely the "13th daemonette":

(http://www.sodemons.com/dhurst/daemonettes/)There is also a Daemonette featured on the poster (upper right corner) for theWarhammer Fantasy Roleplay scenaro "Death on the Reik" (which is brilliant, played it many years ago and really enjoyed it):

Yet, this merely appears to be Lewdfang having been summoned anew by the Mail Order Trolls.

The fluff from the Realm of Chaos - Slaves to Darkness describes the daemons thusly:"The Daemonettes
are the most numerous of Slaanesh’s daemonic followers, and serve his purposes
in a number of ways. They fight as troops on the battlefield, and are occasionally
granted as companions to mortal followers of Slaanesh. Like Slaanesh, the
Daemonettes are beautiful, but their beauty is perverse and unnatural, and
causes loathing rather than admiration. They often ride into battle on Mounts
of Slaanesh.

They stand
nearly as tall as a man, and are white skinned with deep green saucer like
eyes. Their figures and faces are something like those of Human women, but they
have only one breast. They often decorate their bodies and their long flowing
white hair with a variety of bizarre designs, painted or tattooed onto their
skins in the pastel shades of Slaanesh. Slaanesh’s symbol, endlessly repeated,
is the most popular motif. One of their arms ends in a chitinous claw, and they
have two-toed, clawed feet."

A few years later came a new version of the daemonettes by Games Workshop. This time they were even less alluring and much more khornate. I've nicknamed them the "ugly clawbitches" and they date from 1994. They were sculpted by Colin Dixon and Aly Morrison and, to me at least, look ridiculous with their huge claws:

Eight years later, Games Workshop realised their error and had Juan Diaz design a new line of Daemonettes This third version are beautiful and some of the best sculpts Diaz ever made and the demons are beautiful and sensual:

They look like alluring daemons again and like they are dancing. They can be found often on Ebay but are really, really expensive. And there are a ton of fakes out there, cheap recasts from China and elsewhere, so be careful when buying these beauties.

The fourth incarnation - although I don't see how anyone can top either the old-school wonder of the first version or the beautiful, sleek forms created by Diaz - were released in 2008:

They have retained the sleekness of the Diaz sculpts, but have become a bit more evil than alluring. Not bad, but only third on my list of the daemonette sculpts. Along witht hem came some new fluff: "Daemonettes are Slaanesh's Lesser Daemons and the most numerous of all
his servants. Possessed of the hypnotic glamour for which all Daemons of
Slaanesh are abhorred, they are vicious, merciless fighters who attack
with astounding speed and grace."

Anyways, I guess GW will release a new version within the next few years and I do hope they retain the sleekness, graceful and alluring look.

Hope you enjoyed reading this short history on my favourite daemons - if I've left anything out I would love to know about it!